The shameful container camp for Calais migrants

Most of the estimated 6,000 migrants gathered in the French port of Calais in the hope of crossing the Channel to Britain live in dire conditions in a sprawling makeshift camp commonly called 'the Jungle'. As part of a longterm plan to raze the makeshift shacks and tents, the authorities have begun evacuating part of the site to build a camp with living quarters made out of containers that have no water or cooking facilities. Many migrants are refusing to move in to what resembles a prison, surrounded by fencing, watched over by video surveillance cameras, access to which is controlled by biometric readers. In this opinion article, singer and songwriter La Parisienne Libérée, who regularly commentates on current affairs for Mediapart in music and images, denounces a "shameful" project that has cost 20 million euros of public money.

January in the dunes of Calais. It would be a euphemism to say the climate is harsh. It is cold, damp and very windy, infrastructure is scarce and there are real health problems. As the first freezes and snowfalls of winter arrive, everyone is bound to feel reassured in the knowledge that the refugees in Calais, who have been waiting on our inhospitable soil for a chance to reach England, will finally have a warm place to sleep.